[mythtv-users] Squashed text on OSD

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Tue Mar 11 17:09:48 UTC 2008


On 03/11/2008 07:07 AM, Damian wrote:
> I'm running myth through my projector at 1280x720. All looks fine apart 
> from the OSD. All the fonts are squashed together. I'm guessing that 
> this has something to do with my DPI sttings because something weird is 
> going on. I have
>
>     Option        "UseEdidDpi"    "FALSE"
>     Option        "DPI" "120 x 120"
>
> in my xorg.conf file at the moment (it was 100x100 10 minutes ago, so 
> that's not the problem), however, if I run
>
> xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
>
> I get
>
>   dimensions:    1280x720 pixels (406x254 millimeters)
>   resolution:    80x72 dots per inch
>
> Is this my problem? Even if it's nit, any ideas why it's not saying 120x120?
>
> As a clue to the problem, when I go into live tv, the OSD looks fine 
> momentarily, but it's only at 4x3. It messes up as soon as the picture 
> comes up and snaps into 16x9.

MythTV 0.21 no longer requires any specific DPI settings to work 
properly.  You can set your DPI to 33x33 to get a "true" measure of the 
number of dots per inch (and teeny, tiny xterms, etc.) or you can set it 
to 100x100DPI or 120x120DPI to get nice "10-foot-readable" text in all 
your apps.

However--and this is a big one--you /MUST/ specify the proper aspect 
ratio for the display device you're using.  So, if you're using a 
1280x720 pixel size (ratio 16:9) on a 16:9 display (i.e. the 
measurements of the width x height of the actual picture on the wall/TV 
have a ratio of 16:9), you /must/ specify square pixels.  That means you 
must specify the same DPI for horizontal and vertical.  Or, if you're 
not using an NVIDIA card (and, therefore, don't have a "DPI" option for 
X, you should specify a DisplaySize whose ratio is the same as your 
display's ratio (i.e. any two numbers whose ratio is 16:9--"DisplaySize 
16 9" or "DisplaySize 160 90" or "DisplaySize 320 180", etc.).

Since you're properly specifying the DPI for an NVIDIA card (and I'm 
assuming, for that reason, you're using an NVIDIA card) and it's not 
"taking", I can tell you that your distro has done you the great 
disservice of assuming you're too stupid to figure out how to specify 
the DPI/DisplaySize.  They are hard-coding the displaysize in the X 
startup command (i.e. in startx or the script that calls startx).  Your 
best bet for finding where is to talk with other users of your distro.

If anyone has the time and would like to contribute something back to 
the MythTV community, feel free to start updating the wiki...

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#All_my_fonts_look_like_they_are_the_wrong_sizes.2C_how_can_I_correct_this.3F
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Display_Size
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Specifying_DPI_for_NVIDIA_Cards

I'll get to it eventually if no one else does, but probably not until my 
next business trip (since it's easier to do code while I'm home and 
"other" Myth stuff on the road).  However, I'd love to be pleasantly 
surprised by someone's having already fixed it up.  ;)

Note, however, that this may not be the problem you're experiencing 
since you're system is using a value that's close to square pixels.  
Regardless, you'll get better video output if you fix it to be exact.

Thanks,
Mike


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